Buying Knowledge

Effective Acquisition of External Knowledge

Peter Sammons

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780815387886
• eBook ISBN: 9781351162180
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Technology acquisition, consultancy know-how, research data and services, marketing information, intellectual property ... the list of sources and types of knowledge that organizations need to acquire, share and manage is growing exponentially. The acquisition and management of knowledge as an end in itself is relatively new, but has grown in importance on most managers agendas over the past fifteen years and is something that many managers are still fundamentally ill-equipped to control effectively. Yet it is their ability to plan, source, evaluate, acquire and manage knowledge on which the success of their organizations increasingly depends Peter Sammons provides managers with a readable, highly practical guide to buying and managing knowledge. The author looks at the knowledge economy, to set the scene on the manager's growing responsibility to buy-in knowledge for their organization. He explores intellectual property rights: how they are created, transferred and protected. He sets out some alternative strategies to buying knowledge. There's advice on how to work with universities, contract research organizations and consultancy firms. And the most neglected area of all - knowledge transfer from supplier to buyer - is given exhaustive treatment. In a discipline (knowledge work) that is fraught with jargon, technology and arcane practice, Buying Knowledge enables every manager to acquire the knowledge their organization needs; in a form and at a cost that is most appropriate for them without exposing their organization to litigation or intellectual property disputes.

Chapter 1
In the Know – The Knowledge Economy in the Twenty-first Century

A Brief History of Knowledge

First of all, what is knowledge? This might seem an extraordinary question, but it is vital to be certain what we are discussing. When managers invest their organization's funds to buy-in new knowledge, skills or technology, do they always fully recognize the element of knowledge creation – and the need to acquire that knowledge for their company? Collectively, do we recognize within organizations the value of knowledge?

The UK's Concise Oxford Dictionary is disappointing in its definition of knowledge: 'a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, language etc., the sum of what is known ... certain understanding, as opposed to opinion'. For the purposes of this book, knowledge means accumulated experience, data and understanding gained by practical enquiry, reduced to useful applications. Furthermore, in the context of this book, with its emphasis on buying knowledge, we might add that knowledge contributes to the measurable 'intellectual capital' of organizations.

The heading above, a brief history of knowledge, is obviously tongue in cheek. What follows here is an admittedly selective canter through the major areas of human knowledge and recent trends in organizational development, as they relate to knowledge. This is simply to alert us to the breadth of knowledge now at the disposal of mankind.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition, categorized knowledge into 24 areas, alphabetically arranged. Although now considered rather passe by Encyclopaedia Britannica, which in later editions reassembled knowledge into ten basic areas, the 11th edition categories serve our purpose well enough:

1. anthropology and ethnology
2. archaeology and antiquities
3. art
4. astronomy
5. biology
6. chemistry
7. economics and social science
8. education
9. engineering
10. geography
11. geology
12. history
13. industries, manufactures and occupations
14. language and writing
15. law and political science
16. literature
17. mathematics
18. medical science
19. military and naval
20. philosophy and psychology
21. physics
22. religion and theology
23. sports and pastimes
24. miscellaneous.

The 15th edition of the Encyclopaedia contains in its introduction a short article by Mortimer J. Adler about the philosophy of knowledge. In considering humankind's thirst for knowledge, Adler commented:

Among the things that man seeks to know and understand is his own knowledge – his abilities, efforts and achievements in the sphere of knowing itself. Whether or not Aristotle was right in saying that the highest form of intellectual activity is thinking about thinking itself, it is certainly true that 'knowledge become self conscious' is a distinctive characteristic of the human enterprise of knowing. We not only seek to know whatever can be known, but we also, reflexively, turn our knowing back upon itself when we pay attention to how we know what we know, the various ways in which we know, and the divisions and branches of our knowledge.¹

Senior and middle-ranking managers in industry, government, commerce, academe, the military and other enterprises interact with other organizations, colleagues, regulatory agencies and a range of 'stakeholders'. Sometimes the need for new information is competitively driven – the need to get ahead or stay ahead of the competition. Sometimes the need for new information is collective in its incentive, where information is freely shared in the expectation of collectively gaining more knowledge. Whatever the motivation, managers must recognize when a requirement for new information has emerged and not confuse it with other acquisition ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Introduction
• 1 In the Know – The Knowledge Economy in the Twenty-first Century
• 2 Knowledge is Power
• 3 Head Knowledge – Modern Intellectual Property Rights
• 4 Intellectual Property Rights: Current Developments
• 5 Why Buy Knowledge?
• 6 Planning to Buy Knowledge
• 7 Knowledge Transfer
• 8 Working with Consultants
• 9 Working with Contract Research Organizations
• 10 Knowledge Factories – Buying Knowledge from Universities
• Appendix 1 – The Outsourcing R&D Toolkit
• Appendix 2 – Project Memo
• Appendix 3 – Watch Your Service Bills!
• Index